Hay-cutter.



E. i. WOLWORTH.

HAY CUTTER. #.Pvucmmu HLED mi. 21. isle.

Patented July 30, 19B.

4 SHEETS-SHEET l I .IIIIIIIIII .Il lll En mmmmmmmm IN VEN TOR WI TN ESSES:

ATTORNEY.

E. l. WUOLWORTH.

HAY CUTTER.

Avvucmlora HLED 11164.21., 19H3,

4 SHEES -SHEET 2.

1N VEN TOR.

WITNESSES:

ATTORNEY EDWARD J. wooiiwcafrn, or Kraai-vnr, nnnnskn.

To all whom mag con-cem:

Be it known rt at I, EDWARD J. lNoor.- woii'rH, a citizen of the United States, resid'- ing at Kearney, in the county of Buffalo and State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hay- Cutters, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in hay cutteis, being' particularly adapted to cutting up xalfalfa hay and reducing it to meal. It may also be used for reducing straw, rags, old-paper, and the like, in the manufacture of straw board, and other material.

The peculiarities of this invention will be hereafter described and claimed.

T he object of my invention is to provide an efficient machine adapted to reduce hay, especially alfalfa. to that degree of fineness of marketable chopped feed which is known as alfalfa meal and to do this with the formation of'a comparatively small proportion of dust and unnecessarily fine Iparticles; also to handle effectively both the out and uncut product. v

In the accompanying drawing on which like reference letters indicate corresponding parts, Figure 1 represents a. plan view of a machine embodying my improvements; Fig. 2 a vertical longitudinal section on the line :X X of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 a left. side eleva-tion shondng the-main driving mechanism; and Fig. i a right side elevation showing the return elevator for waste feed.

Referring to the drawings', the letter A designates the table of 'a feed box supported' by the cross `bars B and legs C, and pro vided with sides Dwhich have slant boards E to direct the entering hay into the feed mechanism. The alfalfa hay is brought in from place where it is unloaded, by a' traveling belt F, or other means, which delivers it upon said table A. Above the table are located a plurality of link belts G, having attachments projecting'upward from the table and link belt, and located a suitable distance apart, .in order to engage the feed and carry 'it onward, as movementlis given to said link belts by the several pairs of sprocket wheels H, and H', on the shaft and I designating the rear and front driving shafts respectively of the-feed belts. The belts run in upper and lower lines con@ nectng top and bottom of said pairs of Specicatoii of Letterslfatent.

vcatch in tangled hay and extend .in front of and vlt is'desirable that said openings should i- 'Y i' than necessary to admit the be Vno larger Y passage downward of said attachments, on account of a tendency of the attachments to carry the same downward also. Fine particles of the' alfalfa such as broken leaves, also find their way down through these openings. It is in .order to avoid such waste of material, that I provide'a trough K, extending transversely across thevfeed box below the' forward end of the feed table and below 'che said shaft i A l and sprockets, so that the leaves and other particles that may pass through said openings il, may be collected at the bottom of the trough, wherein is mount A a screw coiiveyer L, upon a shaft M, by the rotation of which, said material is transferred :across the machine and delivered into the boot of an elevator N, that carries it up, inthe direction of the arrow,- to a elevator, by which the material is directed back again upon the entering feed. Thus no waste occurs through the necessary openings for the link belt in the feed table.

The material fed onward by the link belt device consisting made of a series ng' across the feed of channel bars O, exten box from side to side, and secured to link Y P', carried by belts mounted on sprockets l), shafts Q and Q, designating the rear and front shafts respectively of the upper mechanism. The shaft Q extends across the feed box and beyond the sides thereof, supportedby `take-up bearings R, carried by the upper porti-on of said sides.

Q, does not pass through the sides of the Y y feed box, but is mounted in boxes S, that are carried 'by curved pressure boards or shoes, T, which are located directly adjacent to the sides of the feed box and close to the ends of the channel bars, like fillers, and

i above the front sprockets so as to keep the feed material from wedging, and are pivoted w the shaft Q', so that said shoes T, together with shaft Q, carried at the opposite end thereof, may

rig. 1,' a 'wai be i Y miti@ ED STATE-s @TENT @FFHmA ratented'auiy 3o, 1.918,. -l xppiicauon nea January 2i, i916. senin nu. 73,;64. i

chute at the head of the I' The rear shaft v be swung upward in an are about the shaft Q', as indicated by an arrow lines in Fig. 2. Each shoe thus acts as a spacer for the shafts Q and Q', and is curved on the bottom edge as shown in Fig. 2, so as to 'be inclined: toward and' ride upon the enteringhay as the hay is crowded forward bythe feed belts upon the feedA table and terial 'is passing, so as to keep the channel bars from contact with the finger attachments of the link belts sliding along the top of the table; and by the weight of the shoes and the upper feed mechanism carried; thereby, a considerable pressure is exerted upon the hay, while at the same time any sudden amount of hay delivered to the table, will cause the upper feed mechanism to rise at the free end and not obstruct the passage of. the hay to the feed roll U, mounted on shaft 'inounted in boxes Vil', located in vertical pockets or guides in the housing of the feed box directly adjacent to the mill proper.

Referrin particularly to Fig. 2, it will be observed tat the lower feed roll 2 is so located adjacent to the rearward end of the feed belt as to allow as short a space as practical for the travel of the feedl from between the feed belt and upper compression feed mechanism till its engagement bv feed rolls are preferably mounted as closely as possible to the front 7 of a mill proper, which consists of a lower ,base portion 8 mounted upon timbers 9, carried by a suitable foundation l0, of concrete or otherwise. The mill proper has a cover which'is preferably hinged to the rearward edge of the ase and extends in a quadrant upward and 0 forward to aflat top that meets the said front 7. vThe parting line of the cover is preferably in the horizontal plane of said hinge, and will allow of throwing the cover upward and backward about said hinge as acenter, by exerting sufiicient upward pull upon a handle 11, by means of a tackle or otherwise. VThe front parting edge ofv the sides of said cover are shown slanting downward from the upper edge of the cover op'- posite the hinge7 so that the sides of the cover meet the projecting sides of the front plate at theparting line 12, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3; or may be otherwise arranged to allow of the upward opening of said cover to expose the base and its interior mechanism to best advantage.

Within this casing of base and cover, is mounted the mill shaft 13, carried by suitable boxes 14, and having at one end of said shaft a flywheel 15, and at the other end a pulley 16, belted to a motor or other driving means (not shown). The said pulley is connectedto the mill shaft which will resently be described. Within t e said base and cover of the and dashed ear on the table when little or no feed mathe upper and lower feed rolls; likewise saidv by a safety clutch adjacent to the .qa Leraars mill proper and mounted on said shaft -13, are a series of disks 22, each consisting of a. hub and a serrated rim with a central plate portion which is perforated, or otherwise as desired. Upon each pair of these rims are i mounted a series of knives connecting said disks, and the serrations or steps of the disks are of such size as to accommodate the size of the knife U, both in width and in thick- A ness. En the drawings, these knives are of considerable width and thickness in proportion to the diameter of said disks 0u which they are mounted, in order that the arrange-v ment and construction of same may be more clear-lj,7 shown. 8,0

eferring to Fig. l, it will be that the knives do not cover the whole circumference of each disk but that said knives aremounted so as to leave an alternate open space-between adjacent lmives, which is necessary for the. passage of the air and alfalfa as it is cut; and for the proper grinding of the saine in further reduction, after cutting it by the knives n'their passage pasta cutter 23, suitably mounted at the front ope'n- 90 ing of the mill, and directly adjacent to the knives on the disks. These knives are shown lin circumferential series and sections across the width of the mill, and as mounted straight or parallel to the axis of the mill shaft. rlhis preferred sectional arrangement is to avoid the resistance of cutting along the whole edge of the cutter 23 at once, as would be the case if each knife carried by the disks was the same length as that of the cutter, and parallel thereto.

l have found in the practical operation of exeinplifying these improvements, that much less dust and fine particles of hay stalks and leaves are produced, than by any other reduction mill of which l am acquainted. This uniformity of length of grinding and cutting, the one following the other, and independently of the other, produces a marketable commodity thathas been received..l

'ith favor, and caused a demand and preference over other reductions of the saine ma ferial; and the greater part of such acknowledged superiority of the meal made by my mill, is believed to be due to the construction and principles herein set forth and illustrated.

JReferring to Fig. 2, it will be observed that they cover of the mill proper extends a considerable proportionate ldistance away from the cutter blades on the side of the mill opposite the inlet.v ln this space, and substantially midway of the quadrant before mentioned, l have provided a curved plate pocket l extending from one side of the cover to the other, having one edge secured to the said quadrant of the cover, and the other edge supported by a plate curved concentric with the axis of the shaft and knife blades of the disks. 13G i massifs rfile said curved supporting plate has its lower edge adjacent to the upper edge of the grinding cage, and forms' a continuation thereof on'a larger radius. This construction constitutes a pocket Vfor ,the reception of stray metal that may get into the machine with the alfalfa. The curve plate portion supporting the catcher or pocket, has itsV upper edge approximately even with the top of the reel or circle of knife edges; and I have found by experience that the catcher is not filledup bythe alfalfa meal', but that the downward current of return air through the return pipe v39, Vtends to clear the pocket from the meal, as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2. It will be noted that lthe return pipe 39 enters the fiat top of the cover in such position.as to be partly over the edge of the metal catcher pocket,

whereby the downward .currents of air are split by the'edge of said pocket,'and part of them are given a rotary motion which clears out the meal that may be deposited in said pocket, thus leaving it clear for the stray metal which it is intended to catch. it will be noted that the cover is large enough above the cutting knives, to allow free space for such metal pieces to ily into the said catcher; and that the location of the catcher in the cover` allows of swinging everything out of theV way when said cover is thrown back on its hinges as shown in Fig. l, thereby .giving ample space within the base for a man to have access to the knives on` the disks in mounting or removing the same.V Also, that the cage itself Vmay readily be removed or repaired, or any clogging portion of inet-ai reached by proper instrument from the underside of the cage.

Before raising the said cover, the lower section of the return pipe 39 is raised from y its .connection with the cover so that it telescopes the adjacent portion of the pipe, and is there held by a balance weight, cord and pulley, as indicated in-Fig. 3.

The out-let pipe for the meal is preferably located between the timbers under the base of the mill, and is connected to a suitable suct-ion fan which directs the blast of air and meal upward through the pipe 40 to the se )arator or dust collector (not shown). he said timbers are protected from fire by sheet iron or' otherwise. Y'

It is from this collector, that'the return pipe 39 proceeds to its junction with the cover of the mill. In Fig. 2,1 have shown a portion of the packing tloorel, in which floor I have mounted a conical outlet 42, provided with hinge cover 43, and having a pipe Llele/'leading from the cone to any part of the outlet pipe from the mill to the fan at any intermediate point that may be preferred. The cover 43 acts as a valve when closed, to prevent loss of suction effect in portions of other feed material, Vinprovidi ing any required percentage V,of differentV material.

Referring to bracket 45 supports one end off a shaft 46',

to which is keyed a sprocket 47, having a s be engaged by a.,

clutch face adapted to clutch collar 48, operated by a pivotud shift iever 49, of any convenient length, but

quirements of the operator and his preferred location with respect toV the mill proper.

The same applies to all levers necessary for operating the machine. This sprocket 47, is connected by a suitable link belt 50 to a countershaft or other source of power (not shown). The plan view Figgl. shows plainly the clutching faces have inclined teeth e to give ready engagement, and adapted to be thrown out of engagement in case of excessive duty required by the entering feed. On the inside of the said shaft 46, is a pinion 51, meshing with a gear 52. mounted on the shaft of the lower feed roll 2, and having an adjacent sprocket on the same shaft, connected by a link vbelt to a similar sprocket 54, Vmounted on the shaft I, which also carries av gear 55. that meshes with gear 56, on on which is also mounted a sprocket 5S, connected by link beltV 59. with a sprocket 60, on Vthe shaft, Q', which is the driving shaft of the compression feed.' positeV side of the feed box the shaft Q. has

a sprocket 62, connectedby a link belt 63,-

withV a sprocket G4, mounted on the head shaft 65, of the said elevator N, which carries up the overow feed and spouts it back again on the entering alfalfa, as previously described. A

The said gear 56, on the shaft 57, just referred to, also meshes with apinion 66, Fig. 3, on the end of the conveyer shaft M, previously described` as located in the bottom of the said trough K. The upper feed roll U, and its shaft V, previously described, is preferably driven frornthe opposite sideof the mili through a sprocket 67, connectedby link belt to a sprocket 68, carried by shaft 69, mounted in a suitable bracket, and also having on Figs. 1 and 3, a suitableY a short sha-ft 57,*

'On the opthe same shaftV a gear 70, mesh-Y but when it is raised and asfV shown in Fig. 1 'for illustration, as pivoted.Y I be extended f Y farther to the front of the machine andV be ics,

1'0 i method of Yhandling the meal from the pack- 'the shaft 75,

ing with a gear 71, mounted on the end of the lower feed roll shaft 72, by which means the lower roll is driven reversely from the upper feed roll.

Referring again to the return elevator Fig. 4, it will be observed that the head shaft is provided with bearings having Wide ianges .73, litt-ing snugly against the sides of the-elevator box, While the bearings theraselves are adapted to slide in slots in the sides of saidbox or trough. Each of said iianges 73, has a hook rod 'is engaging a peroration in the flange and extending out the upper end of the trough, Where it is provided with an adjusting nut threaded there on, whereby the head' shaft may be drawn up to taire up the slack or stretch of the elevator belt. The anges cover the slots in the sides. vIn place of seid elevator, other lneans may be employed totransjer the seid overiow Waste portions of feed from' the trough K upward, and upon the entering fee Referring to Fie'. 4, the carrier mentioned as passing over the rear pulley on is preferably driven by a. said Shaft, connected by linlr sprocket 78, carried by the forward shaft I', previously mentioned in connection with Vthe feed belt-s and attachments passing over the-table A..

. The improvement and advantage ot cutting knives made and attached as described, in connection with the cutter bar Vand udjacent screen, is that they do away with messing, of the uncut pieces of alfalfa. or

sprocket 76, on belt'77, with a.

other material at one side or the machine,

which would bc the tendency with spiral ives set at a considerable twist or continuous inclination to the cutter bar along their Whole length, or width of the machine.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as nev7 anddeslre to socure by Letters Patent, is:

' 1. In a machine of the character described, the combination With a rectangular base portion, a coverhaving a flat top and a quadrant back and hinged to said base portion, of a shaft mounted in said casing,'cutting blades mounted on said shaft, a cutter thorefor, a catcher consisting` of a curved plate pocket, secured to the upper rear portion of said cover and provided ,with a curved front support concentric with said shaft, and s grinding cage below the hinge concentric 1F, before A with scid shaft, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. El machine of the character described,

comprising e rectangular base portion, a hinged cover, a curved pocket located Within said cover and air pipe in the top ot' the cover projecting partly over seid pocket, whereby said pocket isv cleared for the reception or metal that may enter the machine.

3. mill of the character described comprising casing, a shaft mounted therein, e cutter bar, and a cutter thereon inclined to the cris of said shaft, a plurality of blade supports .fixed on said sha-ft, a plurality of series ci straight cutting blades mounted on said blade supports parallel; to vsaid shaft, arranged in short sections horizontally 'and by st eps circumferentiaily in adjacent series, and means to adjust said bla-des, substsntially es described.

e .The combination with a -mill of the character described having a discharge outlet, en exhaust fan adapted .to draw by suc# tion the discharge from. said mill, and pipes leading Jfrom the center of said fan to the mill outlet and from the discharge ot' said fan to the packing door, of an auxiiiary pipe leading from the pechino' ioor, havingV a covered hopper at one end to incinta-in the suction eect and connect d With Suid discharge pipe ronithe mill on the suction side of said fen, substantially asshown and described.

5. In a mill of the character described, the combination .with a fecdtablc having holes transversely located near the mill, and a traveling Vreed device arraned to pass along' above seid table and down through' the holes therein, whereby the smaller particles of iced are likewise carried down .through said lioies, or" a transverse conveyer located below the holes in said table to catch the feed particles, and an elevator located -at 'the side or' said table with its 'boote below the said conveyer, and provided With v:i delivery spout "near the ,upper end extending overA said table, substantially as shown and described; Y

in testimony whereof lV have aixed my signature in presence of two Witnesses. v v

EDl/VARD J. l/Vy()OLVVRTH.Y Witnesses W. TURNER, 'i'. lil. Summen.

605- at one sidethereof, a return los'l 

